Tag: me

My new volunteer job.

I now volunteer with the Hollywood Library Teen Book Council.  The Hollywood Library has such robust programming that there is a regular Teen Council, as well as a Teen Book Council, as well as some other ways for teenagers to meet and talk about books.  I love Portland, the Multnomah County Library, and Danielle, the Teen Librarian so much!

Anyway, I go to the meetings where we choose a theme, and then recommend books on that theme.  After the meeting, I take the list of recommended books and write annotations of the books.  Then I ship my annotations back to Danielle and she puts them together in a post for the library’s website.  It’s pretty cool.

In November, we watched The Great British Bake-Off and recommended books for the hosts as well as the contestants.  Here’s the link to the final product:
https://multcolib.org/blog/20151229/great-british-baking-show-book-gift-edition

Gift Certificate Spent

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The gift certificate was a going away present from one of my favorite Emerson families.  I was excited to try out the latest in garlic mincing (green thing on the right) and the stemming thingie that is supposed to help me take stems out of kale, collards, etc as well as herbs.  These are the kinds of things I won’t spend real money on, because they might not work, but gift card money? Bring it on!  So far the mincer seems to work well and clean up fast.  The stem thing  works so-so on kale, etc., but fabulously on herbs, which I never like to pick apart anyway.

Early birthday present: Elizabeth Gilbert at the Newmark

Kelly spotted this opportunity for a birthday present and so we went.  We were excited to also get a book with our admission. (Especially me, who didn’t pay. :-))IMG_4689

The Newmark Theater is my favorite theater in Portland. One of the things I love is that when you sit in the balcony the view plunges straight to the stage.IMG_4691

I only managed to capture a so-so photo.  But what with the zoom and the dark and all, this was as good as it got.  I would say that bemused acknowledgement of her good fortune is probably a core Elizabeth Gilbert feeling these days.
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This is either the third or fourth time Kelly and I have seen Elizabeth Gilbert speak.  But this time, she talked about the redemptive power of group singing (something I’ve been yammering on about for years) and had us all sing to end her talk.

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We sang “Take me Home, Country Roads” which, aside from being a song I’ve known all my life was also a YRUU standard.  Neither Kelly nor I needed to google lyrics.

Last commuting day on the Max

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For nine years I’ve worked for an employer who provided me with a monthly Trimet pass.  I have enjoyed this perk, because it means not only do I get myself to work for free, I can get around on weekends for free too.  Since we moved to North Portland in 2007, I’ve been commuting more or less daily* on the Max train.  My 30 minute door-to-door commute gave me ample time to read, to observe my fellow transit riders and to catch up on social media.  I will miss this part of my workday. It’s been great to be a public transportation girl

*Sometimes I rode my bike.  Once in a great while I walked.